Hawaii FEP - Western Pacific Fishery Council

Instead, the Council designated the six known beds of precious corals as EFH. The Councilbelieves that the narrow EFH designation will facilitate the consultation process. In addition, theCouncil designated three black coral beds in the MHI—between Milolii and South Point onHawaii, Auau Channel between Maui and Lanai, and the southern border of Kauai—as EFH.6.2.4 Coral Reef EcosystemsIn designating EFH for Coral Reef Ecosystem MUS, the Council used an approach similar to oneused by both the South Atlantic and the Pacific Fishery Management Councils. Using thisapproach, MUS are linked to specific habitat “composites” (e.g., sand, live coral, seagrass beds,mangrove, open ocean) for each life history stage, consistent with the depth of the ecosystem to50 fathoms and to the limit of the EEZ.Except for several of the major coral reef associated species, very little is known about the lifehistories, habitat utilization patterns, food habits, or spawning behavior of most coral reefassociated species. For this reason, the Council, through the CRE FMP, designated EFH using atwo-tiered approach based on the division of MUS into the Currently Harvested Coral Reef Taxa(CHCRT) and Potentially Harvested Coral Reef Taxa (PHCRT) categories. This is alsoconsistent with the use of habitat composites. Please see the Coral Reef Ecosystems FMP fordetails on these designations.Currently Harvested Coral Reef Taxa MUSIn the first tier, EFH has been identified for species that (a) are currently being harvested in stateand federal waters and for which some fishery information is available and (b) are likely to betargeted in the near future based on historical catch data. Tables 29-30 summarize the habitattypes used by CHCRT species.To reduce the complexity and the number of EFH identifications required for individual speciesand life stages, the Council has designated EFH for species assemblages pursuant to 50 CFR600.815 (a)(2)(ii)(E). The designation of these complexes is based on the ecological relationshipsamong species and their preferred habitat. These species complexes are grouped by the knowndepth distributions of individual MUS. The EFH designations for CHCRT in Hawaii aresummarized in Table 31.Potentially Harvested Coral Reef Taxa MUSEFH has also been designated for the second tier, PHCRT. These taxa include literally thousandsof species encompassing almost all coral reef fauna and flora. However, there is very littlescientific knowledge about the life histories and habitat requirements of the thousands of speciesof organisms that compose these taxa. In fact, a large percentage of these biota have not beendescribed by science. Therefore, the Council has used the precautionary approach in designatingEFH for PHCRT so that enough habitat is protected to sustain managed species. Table 32summarizes the habitat types used by PHCRT species. The designation of EFH for PHCRT inHawaii is summarized in Table 33. As with CHCRT, the Council has designated EFH for speciesassemblages pursuant to the federal regulations cited above.182